Apr 27, 2011

Going on Temporary Hiatus

Well, I guess my good intentions weren't enough. I've flaked out for a week now, because I've got to get things ready for my move. That's right, Shannon's job is taking us out of Salem and into Lincoln City, which is why I'm feeling the need to pare down - who wants to take all the CRAP that we have all the way there? "Not me" is certainly one valid answer. Sadly, because of all the work surrounding the move, I don't expect that it's going to get easier for me to post anytime soon. So here's the deal: let's consider me on hiatus until June 6th, to give me time to pack up, close down my house here, move to the new town, and settle in. After that, I shouldn't have anything big standing in my way.

See you in June!

Apr 21, 2011

Catch-up Day

GD it. Am I ever going to be able to update this blog regularly again? The past few days have been horrible: sick, struggling with a broken laptop at work, big translations for Gaijin Kanpai, figuring out details on Shannon's new job (yes! my husband now has a job!), trying not to think about having to pare down and pack up my stuff....Bah. You can suck it, every day since Friday.

But no excuses! On to the reviews! Catch-up day!



Mizuki Nana - SCARLET KNIGHT

Damn these CDs and the mixed feelings that come with them! "SCARLET KNIGHT" is a two-track single featuring the "anime music" genre. There's a lot of synth, a lot of cymbals, a lot strings, and some choral interludes. Think of an anime opening with giant robots fighting in space while handsome young pilots shed sparkly tears. (Or, you know, an anime where a middle school boy is expected to defend a country named after a pastry against enemy catgirls with the weapon of superior athletic ability. Whichever.) Not that there's anything wrong with this kind of music - it's good at getting me totally pumped for the show! - but it's just not my style anymore. The B-side, "HIGH-STEPPER" is a little closer to what I'm looking for. Although the synth still has a strong presence, there isn't as much of the dramatic "opening sequence" feeling. (Probably because it's part of the ending sequence of a variety show.) I'd say it has more of a 90s Hamasaki-Utada-BoA-NameYourPopQueenHere feeling. It hits the nostalgia button but also ties in more closely to the musical style that I like now. I still don't know that I'll suddenly get the urge to listen to it at random, but it's easy to listen to and fun. Overall, this single is a pretty good listen, but perhaps not worth the buy unless you're really into the old 90s stuff.



salyu x salyu - s(o)un(d)beams

This album may not be some people's cup of tea, but damn! This is a good album. The overall feeling of the album is chill and quiet, surreal and cerebral. Avante-garde, to be sure. There are a lot of unusual sounds (footsteps through dirt, breaking ocean waves), a lot of unusual instruments (xylophone, steel drum), and a lot of unusual vocals that I don't think I could wittily describe in parentheses. Although there are some tracks that suffer from squeaky vocals or being so avante-garde that they're somewhat annoying, the majority of the music is relaxing and well-constructed. I especially loved "muse_ic," "Kokoro," "Utaimashou" (which is super surreal - awesome), and "Hostile To Me." The album reminds me a lot of Tica, but more experimental. So, if you're one of the 10 people in the whole world that knows Tica, well, now you pretty much know what to expect from this album. For the rest of you... The very best description I have is "Zer0 music," and yes, you need to listen to Gaijin Kanpai regularly to understand that reference. But if you frequent this blog, you should be listening to GK anyway, so it's not a total loss. People with taste like Loki's should probably avoid this album as I simply cannot imagine you liking this from any possible angle. (Maybe I'm wrong, and if I am, please tell me!) But for anyone with a penchant for unusual music, this is a must-listen.

Apr 16, 2011

Kitano Kii - Kokoro

This album makes my brain hurt! On the one hand, it is cheezy as hell. A lot of the songs have the musical prowess of the "Sailor Moon OST" tracks: there's a lot of badly done synth, a lot of oonts-oonts-oonts bass, a lot of lame electric guitar trying to be hardcore, and a lot of chimes. But because of the musical similarities to 90s anime music, I also find myself helplessly in love with some of the tracks. "Tokumei Kibou" and "Brave 4 You" are the best/worst in this respect, because they sound so nostalgic, even though I've never heard them before. But I could listen to them forever and just think about high school. (Not my favorite occupation, but these songs do a lot to ease the memories - damn them!) Although most songs can't endear themselves to me as well as these two, almost all the others have some element to them that makes 16 year-old Erin want to like them. Sadly, grown-up Erin can't quite do it. Nostalgic or not, these songs are crap. Crap that stirs up some happy memories, but crap nonetheless. They're like gobstoppers: I loved them when I was a kid, but now that I'm a grown-up I can recognize that, while they may have made me happy once, they taste like chalk and I will never voluntarily eat one ever again. Try at your own risk.

Apr 15, 2011

B'z - Sayonara Kizu Darake no Hibi Yo


Man, B'z. Do you know how long it's been since I even thought about these guys? A long-ass time, that's how long. I remember that I first heard of them from Miho, the exchange student, who suggested that I might like them when she found out that I liked GLAY, and I remember listening to... something... by them. But damn if I can remember what. Did I download something of theirs in high school or college? Did I buy one of their CDs from Book Off? Did they possibly do an anime opening and the track found its way to my brother's computer? I have no idea, and their Wikipedia article won't tell me. But I remember that I listened to them. Koshi's voice is impossible to forget.

I remember that I liked them, and if "Sayonara Kizu Darake no Hibi Yo" is any indication, I could like them again. This single is solid. The first track, "Dawn Runner," is a harder rock song that doesn't take "hard" over the deep end, has some good strings, and is catchy and easy to listen to. I especially like the combination of electric and acoustic going on in the opening - it gives it an "Old West meets Modern Rock" feel. But not in a cheezy way. (Just take my word for it.)

"Sayonara Kizu Darake no Hibi Yo" has the same hard-but-not-crazy rock feel and it also has a solid chorus that's so much catchy as it is easy to get into. The only fault I can find with it is that the lead-up to the chorus sounds slightly 80's, which isn't my deal. But the 80's rock sound takes up maybe 10 seconds out of the nearly 4 minute-long song, so you can barely even call the song out for it.

As a whole, I was sad that this was a single rather than an album. I don't know anything about their previous albums; all I know if that if there were ten tracks of what I heard instead of two, I'd be that much happier. Also, because the songs aren't precisely catchy, they tend to flow right out of your mind. This is a good think for the people who are embarrassed to see me dance to the music in my head. (Then again, maybe it doesn't matter to them at all, since even if I'm not dancing to B'z playing in my head, I'm sure as hell dancing to someone.) But it's also kind of a bad thing for B'z because it means that I will probably not remember the single to buy it. Ouch.

Still, the music is solid, and I recommend it. I mean, these guys are the first Asian band to get their hand prints and signatures on Hollywood's Rock Walk, and the guitarist won a Grammy last year for gods' sake. (No, not a Japanese Grammy. Yeah, that is hardcore.) I don't know if they actually can make bad music.

Lyrics Translation: "Sora ga Natteriu," Tokyo Jihen

I know I've been bad. I realized yesterday that I hadn't posted in 10 days. Ouch. That makes today Day 11, if I'm bad.

So as a gesture of good faith, I'm posting a lyrics translation (and transliteration) to show that I'm still thinking about the site. You'll also notice an updated schedule on my calendar down at the bottom of the page. Yes. I'm doing this!!!



“The Sky is Ringing,” Tokyo Jihen

Does life sway on the freeway for me?
The record's high frequency sound waves are frozen

Why am I afraid?

Where will the freeway carry me away to?
Only the echo of two breaths remains

If I look up into the wild, limitless night
Even now the stars seem ripe enough to burst

The moment I have everything, look!
Slow motion
If we're undoubtedly the happiest people in the world right now
Then if there's a dangerous bridge I want to cross it all the more
Dear God, please, don't let it end

How long will the freeway enfold me?
The pulse painfully resounds once

If I fumble for you, defenseless and limitless,
Even now your eyes seem dead enough to break

The feeling of having everything, look!
Non-fiction
I don't know how fast we had to accelerate
To make us the happiest people in the world right now
Dear God, please, let me accept it





I also have the transliteration, as promised, behind the jump:

Apr 4, 2011

Down Week Rewind: GLAY and "Global Communiation"

Thanks to everyone who answered the survey! I got some responses saying I should take a day off (so I took a couple for my sister's birthday, as you may have noticed - it was lovely, thank you!) and some responses saying that I should review the singles and albums that got me into Japanese music. Now that I've had my days off, I'll be doing the rewind. First up: GLAY's single "Global Communication!"



The very first song I ever heard that was definitely Japanese music without coming from an anime soundtrack was GLAY's "Global Communication." I figured that it's title perfectly described what I wanted to attain by listening to Japanese music, so how could I possibly go wrong with it? I remember the first time I heard it. I had exactly two thoughts: "This shit is weird," and "This sounds way too much like American music." I don't know what I was expecting. I'd already been listening to anime music. I knew Japan had electric guitar and synthesizer technology. I knew it wasn't all shamisen and taiko. But "Global Communication" sounded so mainstream pop-rock that I had trouble swallowing it. I obviously wound up coming back to it later, and it continues to get at least 85% of the credit for what got me into Japanese music, but at the time I was less than impressed.

It's hard to review it now, when I've been listening to it for ten years. It's part of the "soundtrack of my high school years," for gods' sake. I'm not even going to try to pretend that I can review it as though I've just heard it for the first time, in a complete GLAY vacuum. I won't try. "Global Communication" is one of the songs that I think of as being part of the First GLAY Golden Age. These are songs that GLAY recorded after they'd hit their stride at a major label, but before they had their souls crushed by the recording industry machine. Included in this list: "Glorious," "Mermaid," "Survival," "Winter, again," and "Yuuwaku;" classics all. Still, despite being a classic, "Global Communication" still isn't one of my favorites: I'd give it a ranking of three or maybe three-and-a-half stars out of five. I like the synth elements, the guitar work is great as always, and I like that it's very upbeat, but it's a little too poppy for my taste and Teru's "Ooh yeah!" gets annoying when you've heard it for as long as I have. Also, with all the guitars and synth and drum the sound tends toward the messy side, which makes it a touch difficult to listen to. Still, it's a solid song from a good time in their discography, and I'm happy that this was my first instead of something ridiculous like "Trouble on Monday," or worse, "Shuumatsu no Baby Talk." Definitely a worthy track for newbie and oldbie alike.



(Sadly, the PV isn't as good as the song. Such is the nature of GLAY PVs. This is a fact I have sadly learned to live with.)

Apr 1, 2011

Berryz Koubou - 7 Berryz Times - Sugar, Sugar, and Anime

Berryz Koubou is a girl pop group formed in 2004 by the evil geniuses who brought you Morning Musume. I'm not sure whether they qualify as an idol group in their own right quite yet, but there's no denying that they're popular - singles regularly reaching the top 10 in the Oricon charts - as well as gaining footholds with international J-music fandom; they're slated to perform in America for the first time at Sakura Con in Seattle at the end of April. Those of you who aren't familiar with Berryz Koubou but are familiar with Morning Musume probably already have a pretty good idea of what this group sounds like; those of you who don't know either group can form a good approximation of their sound by imagining sweet Japanese girls in cute outfits with rainbows and sparkles and ponies flying out of their mouths as they sing.

(Artist's impression)


As you can imagine, this isn't exactly my type of music. About a third of the album is saccharine to the point of inducing opening-the-Ark-of-the-Covenant-style face melting: should I ever listen to this album again, "Bomb Bomb Jump," "Girls Times," and "Onna no Power" are all getting the skip for this reason. Another third of the album tends toward the bland: "Maji Bomber!!" "Masshiroi Ano Kumo," and "Shining Power!" fit into that category easily, and will also get the skip if they ever cross my path again.

But the final third is actually pretty good. "Icchome Rock" (the opening) and "Magical Future!" (the ending) are catchy and fun with surprisingly good musical qualities for a girl group that relies more on sweet smiles and cute costumes than singing or dancing ability. And even better than these two are "Heroine ni Narou Ka!" and "Joshikai the Night," both of which I'd be happy to play again. "Heroine ni Narou Ka!" actually got a mini "squee" out of me when I first heard it: it has a bit of a retro electronic sound, kind of like the music you'd hear from a DDR machine, and the old school feeling expands into both the primary and backup vocals as well. The whole song feels like the opening song for a magical girl anime, and it's easily my favorite on the album. "Joshikai the Night" takes a close second with a similar electronic, anime opening-style sound. I don't know why I'm so attached to the songs that remind me of being a dumb kid whose biggest wish was to make out with Tuxedo Mask, but there you have it. Overall review: I doubt I'll be replaying the album again unless it's to pull out "Heronie ni Narou Ka!" and "Joshikai the Night." Both of which are likely to, embarrassingly, join regular playlist rotation.

*Point of interest: my husband, who (supposedly) likes bands like Korn, Slipknot, and Slayer, loved this entire album except for maybe one song. So, I guess the lesson here is that Berryz Koubou has the power to melt brains as well as faces. :\